Soda Fountain Cupcakes

Chilled cupcakes (aka poke cakes) get cheerful colors from gelatin poured over the cakes and swirled into the cream cheese frosting. The recipe makes two colors of cupcakes. If you like, simplify and use two boxes of a single flavor of gelatin.

Root Beer Float Cupcakes

Malt Shop Special Cupcakes

As cheerfully cute as an ice cream sundae, these showstopper cupcakes have a luscious and oh-so-easy frosting made of whipping cream, pudding mix and malted milk powder. The recipe comes from Designer Desserts Bakery in Valparaiso, Indiana.

Boston Cream Pie Cupcakes

Buttermilk Cupcakes with Sour Cream Frosting

Swirls of sour cream frosting and sugar flowers decorate tender buttermilk cupcakes. You can add a dab of jam below the frosting, if you like. Look for sugar flowers among baking ingredients at the grocery store or at baking supply stores.

The BMC 2

This sweet-salty bacon-topped cupcake was one of 11 finalists in our first Best of the Midwest® Recipe Contest. Its creator, pharmacist Jill Drury of Chicago, used a scientific-formula approach to name her cupcake based on its ingredients: bacon, maple syrup and cinnamon (squared).

Fresh Rosemary & Lemon Cupcakes

Ebony and Ivory Cupcakes

Drizzle this chocolate cupcake with Powdered Sugar Glaze and then rolled in chocolate shavings if you want it to look like ours. Or top the glaze with nuts, hard candies, chopped chocolate or colored sugar.

Easy Berry Cheesecakes

Black Tie Cupcakes

You can get creative with the finishing touches on these cupcakes, which are topped with seedless red raspberry or blackberry preserves, chocolate ganache, decorative icing and small decorative candies.

Gingerbread Cupcakes

Easy Pumpkin Pie Cupcakes

You decide how easy you want these to be! We're partial to our homemade Pumpkin Cupcakes with Sweetened Whipped Cream Frosting, but you can substitute purchased plain cupcakes or purchased whipped white frosting to make this recipe even simpler.